Update on polio in central Africa

On 17 March 2014, WHO elevated the risk assessment of international spread of polio from central Africa, particularly Cameroon, to very high. A new exportation event from Equatorial Guinea demonstrates that the risk of international spread from central Africa remains very high (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_03_17_polio/en/). On 18 June 2014, Brazil reported that wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) had been detected in a sewage sample collected in March 2014 at Viracopos International Airport in Sao Paolo state. Genetic sequencing indicates that this virus is most closely related to the virus that is circulating in Equatorial Guinea. Four wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases have been reported in Equatorial Guinea in 2014. The index case – Equatorial Guinea’s first case to be reported since 1999 – had onset of paralysis on 28 January 2014; the country’s most recent case occurred on 3 April 2014. Genetic sequencing indicates these cases are linked to an ongoing WPV1 outbreak in Cameroon (Cameroon’s most recent case was on 31 January 2014). Equatorial Guinea is implementing outbreak response activities, with three National Immunization Days (NIDs) with bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) in April and May, and plans for further NIDs in July and August. NIDs are deemed essential to stop the outbreak as an estimated 40% of children are fully immunized against polio through the routine immunization programme in the country.

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Across China, the virus that could spark the next pandemic is already circulating. It’s a bird flu called H7N9, and true to its name, it mostly infects poultry. Lately, however, it’s started jumping from chickens to humans more readily–bad news, because the virus is a killer. During a recent spike, 88% of people infected got pneumonia, three-quarters ended up in intensive care with severe respiratory problems, and 41% died.
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Abstract
PROBLEM: Many countries have weak disease surveillance and immunization systems. The elimination of polio creates an opportunity to use staff and assets from the polio eradication programme to control other vaccine-preventable diseases and improve disease surveillance and immunization systems.
APPROACH: In 2003, the active surveillance system of Nepal's polio eradication programme began to report on measles and neonatal tetanus cases. Japanese encephalitis and rubella cases were added to the surveillance system in 2004. Staff from the programme aided the development and implementation of government i...

The co-author of this post is Will Schupmann
President Trump's possible appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead a commission on vaccine safety should frighten all American parents. Kennedy, a vocal believer in the thoroughly discredited notion that childhood vaccines lead to autism, could strengthen the anti-vaccination movement, which would undoubtedly result in the deaths of unvaccinated children.
Today's anti-vaccination movement has already proved to be dangerous. The Disneyland-linked outbreak of measles in California two years ago brought attention to a significant decline in vaccination rates, which vaccine o...

By Sebastien Malo
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Americas has become the first region in the world to be free of measles, following a 22-year vaccination drive against the disease which continues to infect tens of thousands of people globally, the Pan American Health Organization said on Tuesday.
The milestone was confirmed after no cases of the highly contagious disease originating in the Americas were recorded in at least three years, the PAHO said.
“This is truly a historic deed,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the PAHO, which serves as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional off...

Between 6 and 16 February 2016, the National IHR Focal Point (NFP) of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) notified WHO of 3 additional cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (VDPV1). Neither of the two cases received oral polio vaccine (OPV). On 3 February 2016, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan reported that stool samples for both cases tested positive for type 1 circulating vaccine-derived polio virus (cVDPV1). There is no epidemiological link between the two cases.

The National IHR Focal Point of Myanmar has notified WHO of 2 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). Laboratory confirmation that VDPV type 2 is circulating in Myanmar was received on 7 November 2015. The circulating VDPV2 was isolated from a 16-month old boy who developed acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) on 5 October. The child had not been previously vaccinated against polio. This strain is from the same VDPV2 strain isolated earlier this year from a polio case (a 28-month-old child) that had developed AFP on 16 April. The two cases are from the same township in Rakhine state. The genetic changes o...

On 8 December 2015, the National IHR Focal Point of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) notified WHO of 2 additional VDPV1 cases. These cases are from Xaisomboun, a previously unaffected province. To date, the total number of confirmed cVDPV1 cases in this outbreak is 5. The first case is a 7 month-old male with an onset of paralysis on 3 October. He lives in Hom district, Xaisomboun province. The case received oral polio vaccine (OPV) on 30 September. On 4 November, stool samples were collected from 2 close contacts; both of these contacts tested positive for cVDPV1.

The seventh meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the international spread of poliovirus was convened via teleconference by the Director-General on 10 November 2015. The Director General of WHO had noted the concerns expressed by the Emergency Committee in its August 2015 report with respect to circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV). In response, she convened this meeting of the Emergency Committee with broader terms than was previously the case to also look at outbreaks of cVDPV. During the current polio endgame cVDPVs reflect serious gaps in immunit...

The seventh meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the international spread of poliovirus was convened via teleconference by the Director-General on 10 November 2015. The Director General of WHO had noted the concerns expressed by the Emergency Committee in its August 2015 report with respect to circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV). In response, she convened this meeting of the Emergency Committee with broader terms than was previously the case to also look at outbreaks of cVDPV. During the current polio endgame cVDPVs reflect serious gaps in immunit...

On 8 October 2015, the National IHR Focal Point of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) notified WHO of one confirmed type 1 vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) case. In Lao PDR, one case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1) was confirmed, with onset of paralysis on 7 September. The patient was 8 years old when he died on 11 September.